Post a Replay - Receive some feedback! [ZERG]

[Vestras]

Hey,

I'm also going to be viewing replays and giving feedback, so if you want some feedback on how to get better at playing as the beloved Swarm, upload a replay of you having some kind of trouble.

Gold league rank 9 - playing platinum/diamond players only.

 

[Viikuna]

Played this game today, and manage to win, mostly because of lucky zerling run-by.
Im having huge problems with macroing my economy up and getting enough units to stop enemy push when it comes. Getting my tech up fast enough and stuff like that.

All kind of advice pieces and thingies would be welcome.

 

[Vestras]

OK Viikuna, so I watched the replay, and there's a fair amount of stuffz I would like to point out:

• Your opponent obviously wasn't a higher level player; he, AFAIK, didn't follow any regular Protoss build order, atleast that I know of.
• On small maps like Xel'Naga Caverns, I tend to not go quick expand before pool because of the short rush distance. When I do, I normally get it on 14, but that's a preference thing.
• Against protoss, I always go Pool -> 1 ling -> scout front -> if he's zealot heavy, straight to roaches, if he's stalker/sentry heavy, a lot of zerglings - don't forget the roaches though, AFAIK stalkers automatically target roaches rather than zerglings, so they are great for tanking while the lings pound away.
• You seem to be lacking sense of when he is pushing - the key to being a zerg is good drone timing (which I won't talk about, since day9 has a genious video explaining it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jxdX3514t0) - you need to scout his front/his base to see exactly when he moves out, not ~20 seconds after he moves out, but exactly when he does the move. Then, when he does, you macro like crazy (getting units instead of drones), and if you can, get a good flank on him.
• Talking about drones, you were very unsaturated. Get those drones rolling!
• Also, you need to scout inside the opponents base with your overlords - both with your first and those you get after. When you get your lair, research overlord speed immediately and then scout.
• It seemed to me that you weren't really using control groups that well; when I tend to do is having hatcheries from 5 - 9, then all my hatches in one group on 0. I then have 3 evo chambers on 4, and then I have room for 3 attack forces. I also make my first overlord on 2 and my first scouting drone on 1.
• Talking about control groups, make sure to not have all your units in one control group! While it can be (note the CAN BE) good for roaches/hydras to focus fire, you ALWAYS, ALWAYS need to issue Attack-Move orders for your zerglings instead of right clicking on the opponent - then they will do a proper surround.
• I also tend to not go Mutas against protoss, but again, that's a preference thing. (Mostly I do Zergling/Baneling/Mutas only against terran)

I probably forgot something since it's getting late, but I hope it was useful. Let me know if it helps you.

 

[Viikuna]

Yea, my micro sucks as well. Dont know how to use hotkeys really ^^

I think the guy was at same level as I am, teams even. Might remember wrong, though.


I usually tend to do few mutas for harras and then switch to hydra infestor ultra, when enemy gets enough anti air and base defence.

In this game I had no time to do it, though, because that lucky ling run-by gave me huge advantage and I just had to mass units to keep me alive because I knew he had to come after me.


Anyways, I guess I just gotta learn how to spawn larvae properly, and remember to build extra hactheries early. Nearly all games Ive lost recently, could ahve been won if I had enough larva to get some reinforcements when things go bad.

Thanks for tips.

 

[Daskunk]

Yea, my micro sucks as well. Dont know how to use hotkeys really ^^

Have you tried some of the other hot key settings? (I recommend Grid. (Menu > Options > Hotkeys))

They might help you use hot keys a lot.

 

[YourFace]

psh I can give better zerg feedback and I played zerg like 5 times.

 

[Vestras]

psh I can give better zerg feedback and I played zerg like 5 times.

Well, be my guest then.

 

[Bloodcount]

I want a protoss one.

 

[Viikuna]

Just wanted to say that I won one terran in that new Jungle Basin with little help from Lady Luck.

I just accidentally tried to do my baneling bust just when he lifted his barracks up, probably trying to switch it to factory or something. My banelings took care rest of the wall ( 2 suply depots ) and his ramp was left as wide open as it can possible be. ( sc2 ramps are fucking small really )

Anyways, I ran my speedlings in and killed loads of workers in both his main and expansion. Hurt him so badly that he never recovered, even though he got all the speedlings and killed them.

Finished game with infestor+baneling after some muta harras+scouting,


So, Ive won both two of my last solo games by running my speedlings in to enemy base when enemy troops are elsewhere and door is left open.

Thats kinda cool. I always wanted sc2 to be more about punishing enemy from all his little- and lil bigger mistakes, instead of just fancy version of rock-paper-sciccors.

 

[CatCat]

I did win, by a large margin(it was team though)... but I still feel I lack a lot of management and overview of things. I don't know when my drone saturation is good for example~ and I seem to have no idea what /builds/ are... as you might be able to see

 

[Vestras]

I did win, by a large margin(it was team though)... but I still feel I lack a lot of management and overview of things. I don't know when my drone saturation is good for example~ and I seem to have no idea what /builds/ are... as you might be able to see

Which of the two Zergs are you?

 

[CatCat]

Oh yea, that is quite handy to know~ I was Binas

 

[Vestras]

Hey, sorry I haven't reviewed your replay yet - I'm undergoing surgery this week so I'm kinda busy. but I'll get to it.

 

[Bloodcount]

After a few days of hard trying I finally have a replay where I loose... tbh i wasn't exactly trying to win, and well he did surprise me to be honest. he is a good player, getting owned was a plasure

So, where do I suck ?

oh and without further delay

 

[Viikuna]

Haha, you do pwned his contain in the start, and he tried neither fast expand nor some fast timing push. Just pheenix harras, which didnt really do any good.

At this point I kinda thought that you would win the game. Contain just hurt him more than you, and phenix harras kinda failed, other than scouting your stuff, which is always good for him.

Then you stopped producing drones. Stopped getting upgrades. Stopped expanding.

Ive never seen as much unused larva, really. That might be because I suck at timing injecting and I always have to get something like 6 hatcheries, Broodwar style.
Anyways, that amount of larva just has to be converted to overlords and drones for massive zerg expanding.

Anyways, this is my analysis: You lost because he had more harvesters, more upgrades and more units. You just gotta learn to macro more and keep your economy running and also scout more.


And yea, you can never scout too much.

If protoss runs out of his base with his army like that, you simply gotta run in bunch of speedlings to snipe his nexus and other important buildings or harversters.
He either has to go back killing slings, which buys you time to mass counters, or try to trade bases with you.

Just always keep one ling just outside his base. It buys you so much more time than having that ling at Xel Naga tower.

 

[Vestras]

Bloodcount: Viikuna said it.

CatCat:
I'm just gonna over this quick because I'm in a hurry:

• Drone saturation - it takes 3 drones to optimally mine a mineral patch. There are 8 mineral patches in each base. 3 * 8 = 24 - it takes 24 harvesters mining minerals per base to be fully saturated.
• Why did you put your expansion so far away? Put it closer, it will be easier to defend.
• There was absolutely no reason to get that many spine crawlers. It's a waste of money.
• You seemed to lack scouting; you didn't know what tech path your opponents were going. You were kinda relying on your alies for AA support.
• While talking about teching, you didn't tech until the end of the games. Get that tech going!

 

[Bloodcount]

>Then you stopped producing drones. Stopped getting upgrades. Stopped expanding.

Yeh.... I failed at that point. I should have continued to macro.

Also, my scouting was rather off, I agree.
>Just always keep one ling just outside his base. It buys you so much more time than having that ling at Xel Naga tower.

Yes, I should have.

thanks for the feedback.

 

[Vestras]

Also, I don't see why you got that hatchery inside your base. I would've just made a queen, then put some creep, and made a spine crawler. And then expand, of course.

 

[Bloodcount]

extra larva, easier to drone uber hard

 

[Viikuna]

I usually get 3rd hatch just outside my natural expo, so if enemy pushes in he usually tries to snipe it first before threatening my natural, buing me some time to react. Loosing that hatch hurts very little, since its not a mining hatch.

Other good spot for 3rd hatch is between your main and natural. It spreads creep for people like me who are not yet used to macroing queens properly.

( I still forgot to spread creep and inject larva alla time )


I guess I just gotta try a proper inject & spawn creep tumour -timing thingies against AI to get used to it. Thats how I learned how to do banelings bombardment with overlords today.

Banelings can do HUGE damage to any unit ball if you manage to drop them from above. Its like the full effect of that splash,goddamit.

Also having tons of overlords floating above your enemys unit-ball during the battle kinda makes him wanna shoot them, which is kinda cool actually, since they focus less on your infestors and other really important units.

Poop creep to their heads, HA!